Pitt's University Center for International Studies to Present PaCIE Conference 2006

PITTSBURGH—For more than 35 years, the Pennsylvania Council on International Education (PaCIE) has advanced international education in Pennsylvania through advocacy, professional development opportunities, and collaborative projects with institutions of higher education and primary and secondary education. On Sept. 29-30, the University of Pittsburgh's University Center for International Studies (UCIS) is hosting a conference titled "Navigating a Flat World: Bridging Gaps and Expanding Resources Across the Pennsylvania Landscape." The title was inspired by Thomas Friedman's book, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005), which talks about the globalization and the need for improved public education.

The keynote speaker, M. Peter McPherson, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and former president of Michigan State University, will give a lecture titled "The Global University: How Do We Get There? which will address the need to equip students for global integration. Other speakers include William I. Brustein, director of Pitt's University Center for International Studies and professor of sociology, political science, and history, and Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial cartoonist whose work is syndicated in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Newsweek, and USA Today, among many others.

PaCIE will present several awards to international educators at the conference, including the:

2006 Bringing the World to Pennsylvania: K-16 Collaboration Award to Kim Cahill, director of the Institute of Global Management Studies Center for

International Business Education and Research at Temple University, for her organization of a World Languages Day;

W. LaMarr Kopp Lifetime Achievement Award to Shirley Kregar, associate director for academic affairs in the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Latin American Studies, and Nathaniel Smith, associate dean for International Programs at Franklin and Marshall College, for demonstrated long-standing excellence, commitment, and leadership in the field of international education in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and

David A. Portlock Outstanding International Educator Award to Alice Edwards, professor of Spanish at Mercyhurst College, for her collegial mentoring in the field, exemplary leadership on campus, and consistent contributions to international education.

Pennsylvania educators can register to attend the 2006 PaCIE conference at www.pacie.org.

Prior to the conference, PaCIE will partner with the Pennsylvania Ethnic Heritage Studies Program to offer a workshop titled "Deliberative Dialogue Forums: An Effective Way for Your Students to Tackle Tough Issues" Sept. 27-28. The workshop is especially appropriate for middle and high school educators who deal with issues of local, national, and international concern. This hands-on workshop covers the theory, practice, and potential of deliberative dialogue—a type of communication where a diverse group of people jointly make decisions about common problems they face—while providing skills to successfully moderate a deliberative dialogue forum in the classroom. Those wishing to attend the preconference workshop can register at www.ucis.pitt.edu/pehsc. For more information, contact Elaine Linn at 412-648-2113 or eel58@ucis.pitt.edu.